ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 144331
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| Date: | Wednesday 29 February 2012 |
| Time: | 17:15 |
| Type: |  Eurocopter AS 350B3 AStar |
| Owner/operator: | California Highway Patrol |
| Registration: | N341HP |
| MSN: | 3407 |
| Year of manufacture: | 2001 |
| Total airframe hrs: | 8027 hours |
| Engine model: | Turbomeca ARRIUS 2B |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2 |
| Aircraft damage: | Substantial |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | Napa County Airport, CA -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | Landing |
| Nature: | Unknown |
| Departure airport: | Napa, CA |
| Napa, CA | |
| Investigating agency: | NTSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
The flight instructor reported that while hovering about 3 feet above the ground, he performed an autorotation demonstration for the second pilot. Although the flight instructor raised the collective to arrest the descent before landing, the helicopter made a firm landing, which resulted in substantial damage to the tailboom. The flight instructor reported no preimpact mechanical malfunction or failure that would have precluded normal operation.
The Federal Aviation Administration’s helicopter flying handbook identifies the proper techniques for practice autorotation maneuvers from altitude and indicates that one of the common errors that can occur during hovering autorotations is the pilot’s failure to apply up-collective pitch properly, which can result in a hard landing.
Probable Cause: The flight instructor’s improper use of the collective control during a practice hovering autorotation, which resulted in a hard landing.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
FAA register: http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNum_Results.aspx?NNumbertxt=341HP
History of this aircraft
Other occurrences involving this aircraft
| 30 April 2003 | N341HP | California Highway Patrol | 0 | Napa, California | |
sub |
Location
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 10-Mar-2012 14:41 | Geno | Added |
| 30-Sep-2016 15:20 | Aerossurance | Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 21-Dec-2016 19:26 | ASN Update Bot | Updated [Time, Damage, Category, Investigating agency] |
| 27-Nov-2017 20:19 | ASN Update Bot | Updated [Other fatalities, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 14-Aug-2021 12:58 | harro | Updated [Source] |
Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description
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